A Colchester soldier has been praised for quickly raising the alarm after he was knocked off his feet by a bomb attack in Northern Ireland.

Private Andrew Welch, 20, of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment, was on duty in a guardroom at the barracks in Londonderry when a bomb exploded at 6.16am yesterday (Thursday).

The explosion knocked Private Welch off his feet, but he immediately picked himself up and sounded the alarm.

Nobody was hurt in the explosion at the Ebrington Barracks, caused by a small 5lb home-made device, but it did cause damage to a perimeter wall and the guardroom.

No group has admitted responsibility, but dissident republican terrorists have been blamed for the attack.

Regiment commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Kemp, of Maldon, said: "The terrorists were intent on penetrating the security of Ebrington Barracks to kill and maim the soldiers and civilians who live and work there.

"But they were denied the opportunity to do this by the extremely tight security that we maintain at Ebrington Barracks and all of our bases."

"Instead it appears that they resorted to leaving the bomb on the pavement outside camp or to throwing it over the perimeter wall."

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